Arambagh (Hooghly), May 4: Driven by an inferiority complex, a constable strangled his wife, the CPM candidate for the uncontested Tirol gram panchayat seat, here last night and committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree.

The bodies of Sandhya, 48, and Harisadhan, 53, were recovered by police today and sent for post-mortem. A local, Sahadeb Das, has been arrested for abetting the crime.

Arambagh sub-divisional police officer Dilip Adak said Harisadhan, who was posted at Budbud in Burdwan, began suffering from an inferiority complex once Sandhya was fielded as a candidate in the rural polls.

“The complex became more intense after Sandhya was returned uncontested from Tirol. Harisadhan became very depressed and did not attend to his duties at Budbud police station,” said Adak.

Harisadhan decided to take matters in hand yesterday afternoon when a notice served by the Budbud police station authorities ordering him to join duty immediately reached him.

Armed with a rag, he followed his wife into the cowshed in the evening. He strangled her inside and later sat in a corner of the courtyard smoking a bidi.

“I had put my one-year-old son in bed and asked my mother-in-law (Sandhya), who was watching television, to look after him while I went to a shop in Arambagh to buy a pair of sankhas. When I returned, I found the baby crying. I could not find my mother-in-law anywhere. I found my father-in-law smoking a bidi in the courtyard, but he did not respond to my queries,” said Rikta, Harisadhan’s daughter-in-law.

Rikta looked for Sandhya in the neighbours’ houses, but in vain. When she came back, Harisadhan had disappeared from the courtyard. Shortly afterwards, Rikta’s husband, Susanta, returned home. Togethre, they began looking for Sandhya.

Around 7.30 pm, the jute curtain drawn over the cowshed entrance drew their attention. “The curtain is rolled up during the summer months because of the heat,” said Rikta.

They found Sandhya’s body inside. Susanta, who could not locate his father, went to Arambagh police station and lodged an FIR.

“Susanta admitted that there was tension between his parents ever since Sandhya filed her nomination. He also told us about his neighbour, Sahadeb, who used to frequent their house and tell his father that his mother would lord over them after she became a political leader. This enraged Harisadhan, who lost his head,” said Adak.

Police said Harisadhan could not be traced through the night. Around 6 this morning, his body was found by residents hanging from a tree near a pond behind his house.

Arambagh MLA and CPM zonal secretary Benoy Dutta said the deaths were a sequel to a family feud.